Boston bombing motive

POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Wednesday, November 5, 2025 22:25
VIEWED: 4994
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SIGNYM

Friday, April 26, 2013 5:04 PM

So, to more intelligent discussion.

Was the motive political or religious? I think a bit of both. People are complex, their passions dictated by many factors. I think the older brother, Tamerlan, began to identify closely with Muslims (as he saw them), but the actual motivation was his aggrievement over the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. Well, you don't have to be Muslim to be angry about slaughtering up to a million people. Add in the close identification with the victims and he went over the edge.


As far as the mother is concerned, she is obviously not a jihadist, just very very angry at the United States for the death of her son.

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WULFENSTAR

Friday, April 26, 2013 5:23 PM

Im more concerned about the police/government response to this.

"Unlawful searches and seizures"? Ring any bells?

As to "Well, you don't have to be Muslim to be angry about slaughtering up to a million people. Add in the close identification with the victims and he went over the edge. "

I'm pretty sure you don't know any vets.

What? Going to start spitting on homecoming veterans and call them "babykillers"?

THIS is WHY most people HATE the left.

"None of you seem to understand. I'm not locked in here with you... YOU are locked in here with ME."

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SIGNYM

Friday, April 26, 2013 5:26 PM

"Most people" don't hate the left, since "most people" account for 7 billion. A fact you don't recognize is that "most people" live outside of the USA. Or, are non-US citizens not people, in your view? That attitude would prolly explain why "most people" hate the USA right wing (and, parenthetically, the USA military.)

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But I agree with you on the government response issue. The kind of terrorism which is self-taught and not linked to recognized organizations is impossible to detect unless you go to the level of universal surveillance and thought-crime. A place I'm sure Obama is willing to go.

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NIKI2

Friday, April 26, 2013 5:38 PM

Sigh...a sincere attempt at deconstructing the REALITIES behind Boston's bombing, gets an immediate knee-jerk piece of assininity from Wulf. Dangit, I forgot I wasn't going to read his screeds anymore.

But to respond to your very valid post, I've seen a lot of this going around lately:

Quote:

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What do Mass Murderers and Suicide Terrorist Have in Common?

Over the last three years, I have examined interviews, case studies, suicide notes, martyrdom videos and witness statements and found that suicide terrorists are indeed suicidal in the clinical sense — which contradicts what many psychologists and political scientists have long asserted. Although suicide terrorists may share the same beliefs as the organizations whose propaganda they spout, they are primarily motivated by the desire to kill and be killed — just like most rampage shooters.

In fact, we should think of many rampage shooters as nonideological suicide terrorists. In some cases, they claim to be fighting for a cause — neo-Nazism, eugenics, masculine supremacy or an antigovernment revolution — but, as with suicide terrorists, their actions usually stem from something much deeper and more personal.

There appears to be a triad of factors that sets these killers apart. The first is that they are generally struggling with mental health problems that have produced their desire to die. The specific psychiatric diagnoses vary widely, and include everything from clinical depression and post-traumatic stress disorder to schizophrenia and others forms of psychosis. The suicide rate was 12.4 per 100,000 people in the United States in 2010 (the highest in 15 years). Suicide is relatively rare, but it is rarer still in most Muslim countries. This is a very limited pool from which most suicide terrorists and rampage shooters come.

The second factor is a deep sense of victimization and belief that the killer’s life has been ruined by someone else, who has bullied, oppressed or persecuted him. Not surprisingly, the presence of mental illness can inflame these beliefs, leading perpetrators to have irrational and exaggerated perceptions of their own victimization. It makes little difference whether the perceived victimizer is an enemy government (in the case of suicide terrorists) or their boss, co-workers, fellow students or family members (in the case of rampage shooters).

The key is that the aggrieved individual feels that he has been terribly mistreated and that violent vengeance is justified. In many cases, the target for revenge becomes broader and more symbolic than a single person, so that an entire type or category of people is deemed responsible for the attacker’s pain and suffering. Then, the urge to commit suicide becomes a desire for murder-suicide, which is even rarer; a recent meta-analysis of 16 studies suggests that only two to three of every one million Americans commit murder-suicide each year.

The third factor is the desire to acquire fame and glory through killing. More than 70 percent of murder-suicides are between spouses or romantic or sexual partners, and these crimes usually take place at home. Attackers who commit murder-suicide in public are far more brazen and unusual. Most suicide terrorists believe they will be honored and celebrated as “martyrs” after their deaths and, sure enough, terrorist organizations produce martyrdom videos and memorabilia so that other desperate souls will volunteer to blow themselves up.

Similarly, rampage shooters have often been captivated by the idea that they will become posthumously famous. “Isn’t it fun to get the respect that we’re going to deserve?” the Columbine shooter Eric Harris remarked. He had fantasized with his fellow attacker, Dylan Klebold, that the filmmakers Steven Spielberg and Quentin Tarantino would fight over the rights to their life story. http://www.bulletsandballots.com/2012/12/what-do-mass-murderers-and-su
icide.html

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